Conventional card connector assembly 200 shown in FIG. 8 and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No, 5,709,568 comprises a card connector 210, which has a plurality of electrical contacts 212 for electrical connection to a PC card (not shown), a card edge connector 220, which is surface mount connected to conductive pads on a circuit board 240, and a connecting board 230 which is solder connected to the contacts 212 of the card connector 210 and insertion-connected to the card edge connector 210.
The card connector 210 has stacked insulating housings 211 so that two PC cards can be accommodated therein. Electrical contacts 212 are fastened by press-fitting to the connector sections 211a of the housings 211. The housings 211 are mounted on circuit board 240.
The card edge connector 220 is equipped with an insulating housing 221 which has a board-accommodating recess 221a that extends in the direction of length, and which is mounted on the circuit board 240, and a plurality of electrical contacts 222 which are mounted in the housing 221 in a row and which electrically engage conductive pads 231 on the connecting board 230. The contacts 222 are electrically connected to the conductive pads on the circuit board 240.
The connecting board 230 is solder-connected to the plurality of contacts 212 protruding from the connector sections 211a of the card connector 210 horizontally with respect to the wall surfaces of the connector sections 211a, i.e., perpendicularly with respect to the circuit board 240. Afterward, the connecting board 230 is accommodated in the board-accommodating recess 221a of the card edge connector 220 so that the conductive pads 231 and contacts 222 electrically engage each other. As a result, the PC cards are electrically connected to the circuit board 240 via the contacts 212 of the card connector 210, the connecting board 230, and the contacts 222 of the card edge connector 220.
However, in the case of such a conventional card connector assembly 200, a separate connecting board 230 is necessary in order to connect the card connector 210 and card edge connector 220 to each other. As a result, the number of parts required is large, and the number of contacts is large, so that the reliability of the electrical connections decreases.
Furthermore, since the connecting board 230 is installed perpendicular to the circuit board 240, the overall height of the card connector assembly 200 is increased.
Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide a card connector assembly for connecting cards such as PC cards including memory cards to circuit boards, which makes it possible to obtain highly-reliable electrical connections, and which has a low height.